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It's not too big an exaggeration to say that The Day of Thunder tournament at GenCon 1997 has become a gaming legend. There was an enormous amount of cool stuff that happened, far too much to be recorded and seen by any one person. But I was in a good position to see a lot. I was lucky enough to be covering the event for InQuest, and I had ringside seat inside the FRPG booth for the final games. I was close enough to see if the finalists' hands were shaking (they were).
If you've ever wondered how the final game played out... read on.
Patrick was playing a Crab Oni deck with some very effective twists; it almost played like a Scorpion deck at times. Yogo Asami was in there to tie down any possible defenders. When Ninja Shapeshifters weren't copying Asami's ability, they were copying the Crab Oni's force. Chris, playing a Lion deck in a tournament for the first time, was obviously well practiced enough by now, and won the game.
There were five Phoenix players in the final 32, so they decided each of them would represent an Elemental Master. David La (next year's GenCon Champion) was the Master of Air, Afshin Coleman was the Master of Earth, and Derek Huisjen was the Master of Fire. All three had quite similar decks, relying heavily on dragons for military muscle.
One of the AEG guys came over to me and told me how fabulous this game was going. Lots of back and forth. David, apparently not wanting to give a target for any anti-Shadowlands card, brought out one of his dragons without the Shadowlands trait. Derek threw down an Evil Portents, and Kolat Mastered it away...
Rob Kramer had a deck that stood somewhere between "Exploding Crane" and the later "Robot Crane" deck styles. He was using Shinsei's Shrines, but didn't have the huge number of events that would later typify the Robot Crane archetype. Rob is ready for Phoenix (Corruption of the Harmonies was in there!), and pulls off the win.
Steve Horvath had a modified Lion speed deck. He was quite proud that it did not contain Strength of Purity!
Kasey -- yes, the man behind Flying Tricycle (formerly Kirby Signcraft), who makes those wonderful honor counters -- had skirmished into the finals as the top Toturi's Army player in a sealed deck tournament. As the only Toturi's Army player at this point, Kasey had a lot of folks in the crowd pulling for him.
This game was very tight. Kasey got an early jump with a nearly perfect draw, with Alliance coming out (naming Dragon), and a couple of copies of Togashi Mitsu. He took down two Lion provinces right away, and Steve told me afterwards, "I thought he had me." But Steve managed to bounce back while Kasey's copies of Mitsu were cooling their heels and losing Fire tokens.
There was grumbling in the crowd that the two Lion players had been chosen to play against each other at this point to prevent the possibility of a Lion vs. Lion game as the finals of the Day of Thunder. Sadly, I have no notes on this game.
Derek had managed to get out an Earth Dragon quite quick, and was set to do some major damage, but he had brought it out with the Shadowlands trait, and an Iris Festival blew it up. After that early setback, Rob managed to get out a Ki-Rin, which preventing Derek's dragons from getting in any attacks. In a fit of frustration, Derek killed off the Ki-Rin (a Kolat Assassin, I think) to get in an attack, which was a major blunder. As Ree Soesbee told me later, "He set off all the poets..." Ki-Rin has 5 personal honor. Three copies of Kakita Shijin in play. Rob took the 15 honor, thank you, and earned his spot in the final.
Chris gets out a Merchant Caravan and hires Matsu Gohei. Rob promptly pulls Doom of the Lion, preventing Gohei from attacking!
Unable to attack with Gohei, Chris bows him to successfully lobby for the Imperial Favor. Keeping the Favor away from Crane is a pretty good move. He tosses his Ancestral Sword to the Merchant Caravan to hire Matsu Chokuku. On Rob's turn, he gets not one, but two copies Shinsei’s Shrine in play -- but they're in his rightmost provinces (which becomes important in a second). Rob hires Kakita Shijin.
Gohei finally gets in an attack, and gets in one Strength of Purity before being sent home by Refugees. Chris hires Matsu Agetoki and gets some gold. Rob, with the Shrines kicking in for honor, is able to take the Imperial Favor away from Chris. He rounds out his turn by hiring Kakita Yinobu.
Chris flips over Return of Fu Leng. Rob pretty much has to forfeit his leftmost province, leaving him with one functioning province. Before attacking, Chris picks up the copy of Matsu Gohei that's been affected by Doom of the Lion, and flings him unceremoniously away! Spearmen get attached to Matsu Chokuku, and a Fan of Command is given to Agetoki before the attack is launched. Rob defends with Kakita Yinobu, but the Lion attack successfully destroys Rob's last province without a Shrine plugging it up.
Somewhere during Rob's turn, someone from the audience shouted, “What’s the honor at, Rob?” "Twenty-five," he answered. Chris volunteered “Three!” as his honor total, prompting a laugh from the crowd. Although Rob now has no functioning provinces, he does have Shrines and his stronghold churning out honor every turn...
Chris attacks again. Rob has only Kakita Shijin to defend, but plays Block Supply Lines on Agetoki and uses the Favor on Matsu Chokoku. He's alive for another turn. Chris hires more personalities.
Rob... well... not much he can do except gain honor.
Chris attacks Rob's last province with four units. The last Crane province is valiantly defended by a lone Kakita Shijin (Rob's only personality). Rob plays To Do What We Must, but realises that it's only token resistance. Lion wins.
2 Avoid Fate
3 Charge
3 Focus
3 Lies, Lies, Lies...
3 Refugees
3 Strength of Purity
3 Superior Tactics
1 Light Infantry
1 Matsu House Guard
3 Spearmen
1 Ancestral Armor of the Lion
1 Ancestral Sword of the Lion
2 Fan of Command
1 Ring of the Void
1 Corruption of the Harmonies
1 Desperate Measures
1 Evil Feeds Upon Itself
1 Inheritance
1 Iris Festival
1 Return of Fu leng
3 Copper Mine
3 Jade Works
3 Merchant Caravan
3 Small Farm
3 Matsu Agetoki
2 Matsu Chokoku
3 Matsu Gohei
3 Matsu Yojo
1 Kitsu Motso